Fierce and Free
by Meddwl
Summary: A miserable start to the summer and a visit from the G.A. leads to the Swallows, Amazon's and D's meeting a strange family of four and entangling them in a fantastical web of secrets, magic and adventure. Set during the Picts and the Martyrs. AU.
1. The Ship and the Letter

**Nota Bene:** See the bottom for ages and characters.

* * *

 **The Ship and the Letter**

* * *

Richard and Dorthea Callum or (since they were not in trouble), Dick and Dot sat together watching the countryside flash by. More accurately Dot was staring absently at the countryside while Dick had his nose buried in _Sailing_ by E.F. Knight.

Since he and Dot were finally going to own their own vessel he thought it only fitting that he learned everything that he could. What Captain would not want to do his best by his ship?

Dot, while she was excited and eager didn't take the whole owning a ship business quite as seriously. Her head was in that peculiar state commonly known as daydreaming. She had been working on a chapter of _The Outlaw of the Broads_ but her pen had stilled and her mind had wandered into strange un-charted territory full of lions and knights and a beautiful castle by the sea.

It was such a lovely daydream that it took Dick two or three minutes to get her attention.

"Dot!"

"Hmmmm"

"D _ot_!"

"Mphfff"

"Dorthea Callum!"

Dot jumped about two feet into the air and Dick grinned.

"What is it?" she asked rather miffed. Usually it was Dick that succumbed to absent-mindedness and Dot who was the voice of reason.

"We are here!" said Dick hastily, "I can see red caps. The Amazons will be here in a minute." And Dot noticed for the first time that they had stopped.

Squashy Hat also known as Timothy-who-was-not-an-armadillo was there too to Dick's delight. Everyone else grinned when the two began a technical conversation concerning quantitative analyses otherwise known (to Nancy) as "stinks".

The others (Nancy, Peggy and Dot) finally managed to drag Dick away from his engrossing discussion so that they could catch the bus. It was a close thing though and he and Timothy still managed to block out everyone else around them on the way to the landing stage.

There to the relief of Dot who was more inclined towards adventures and daring rescues than assays and analyses they parted, the four explorers and pirates in the _Amazon_ and Timothy in Captain Flint's old rowboat.

Their first stop was at the shed that currently housed the _Scarab_ until her paint finished drying and her rigging was complete. `

Old Bob the boatbuilder led them to her cheerfully enough at which point Dick and Dot felt more than a little inclined to stare.

They looked her over ecstatically, she was up-side down and the varnish was still drying but to them there could be no more beautiful sight in the world. She was the _Scarab_ , their _Scarab._

"She is lovely!" breathed Dot dreamily turning a brilliant smile on the old boatbuilder.

"That she is" said old Bob, "One of the best I have ever had a hand in making, very like your _Amazon_ Nancy. I dare say you'll be racing."

"Oh, yes!" said Peggy, Nancy and Dot together. Dick said nothing.

"Dick?" asked Dot looking about for her brother.

"I say!" came an awed voice from across the shed, "Dot, Nancy, Peggy! You have to see her!"

"Dick?" repeated his sister as they raced across the shed, "What is…oh…"

"Golly!"

Nancy whistled.

"The _Cair Paravel_ " read Dot softly, "It sounds like something from a fairy tale"

"Ah, the _Cair_ " said Bob, "Best bit of shipbuilding I have ever done. Strange folk that ordered her though, an old fellow, Professor Kirke his name was had her made for friends of his who are coming for the summer, a pack of kids like you lot."

Nancy scowled, fierce pirates, explorers and adventurers were not a "pack of kids". Old Bob was nice for boatbuilding and a mine of information when needed but he could be quite native on occasion.

"I have never seen a design quite like that" said Peggy "What is it modeled after?"

"I couldn't be sure" said old Bob, "He sent a lot of drawings and measurements down but he never said where they came from."

"How many kids?" asked Nancy suddenly.

"How'd I know?" said Bob, "I don't go about asking personal questions from everyone that has a boat built. I'd say four or five by the look of her."

"It couldn't be the Swallows could it?" wondered Peggy.

"Do you know their name?" she asked the old boatbuilder, "Was it Walker?"

"Nay, it wasn't any I've heard before" said Bob good-naturedly, "Pevensie or some such name."

-o-O-o-

Unfortunately the jolly mood only lasted about a day. Despite the fact that Mrs. Blackett and Uncle Jim as Captain Flint was known to the natives were gone and piracy and camping were on a hold until their return and the arrival of the Swallows they had been having a good time.

Nancy and Peggy had made a flagstaff and flag (respectively) for the _Scarab_ and they had even laughed over the telegram that Nancy had sent to the fearsome Great Aunt when she had telegraphed complaining about them being left behind with only Cook for company.

And then as they were standing outside admiring the rose trellis (which was better for climbing than for roses) the lightning struck leaving chaos and misery in its wake.

The postman had a letter addressed to Miss Ruth Blackett, which could only mean one thing. The G.A. was the only one to write letters to Nancy under her native name.

Nancy summoned up the courage to open the G. A.'s letter, mostly because Dick and Dot were watching and what sort of pirate is afraid of a letter? Even a letter from the dreaded G.A.?

 _My dear Ruth,_

Nancy snorted.

 _I have just learnt with surprise that your mother has chosen this time to go abroad with your Uncle James. Neither of them has thought it fit to let me know of their intentions. I am horrified at the thought that you and Margaret are alone in the house. I cannot consider Cook a sufficient guardian in your mother's absence…_

Nancy grimaced.

… _Inconvenient as it is for me to disarrange my plans, I cannot permit you two children to be thus abandoned to your own devices…_

"Oh no!" gasped Peggy

… _am coming to Beckfoot to-morrow to take charge of the house until the eve of your mother's return, when I shall leave you to prepare for the arrival of a friend at Harrogate. I am also pleased to say…_

"She can't!" said Nancy passionately, "She is just finding an excuse to complain to mother."

"What is she pleased about?" asked Dot apprehensively. She had heard stories of the dreaded G.A. and she was sure that anything that pleased her would not please them in the least.

… _due to the request of an old friend I am bringing four children to keep you company…_

Chaos broke loose.

"No!"

"Barbequed Billygoats!"

"Four!"

"How dare she!"

 _...I believe that they will be a good influence on you being exceedingly well-behaved and altogether charming, quite unlike those Walker children who were always making you late for meals. Have Cook air out the spare rooms, there are two boys and two girls and they will staying with me at Beckfoot until my old friend Digory can make it down and watch them._

"Beast! Beast! Beast!" said Nancy.

… _expect me at Beckfoot between six thirty and seven o'clock.  
Believe me, my dear niece  
Your affectionate Aunt,  
Maria Turner_

* * *

I am know I am playing fast and loose with respective ages and the right decades and that this story is definitely AU but those are the only things that I am changing. Everyone's characters will (hopefully) be unchanged. I am not British and I did not live in the thirties and forties, if you notice mistakes in those areas please don't hesitate to let me know.

It is set during _The Picts and the Martyrs_ for the Swallows/ Amazons/ D's and after _Voyage of the Dawn Treader_ for the Pevensies. Susan is still a friend of Narnia.

Characters (since not everyone is familiar with both fandoms)

 **The Amazons:** Nancy (Ruth - 15 1/2) and Peggy (Margaret - 14 1/2) Blackett - Owners of the _Amazon,_ daughters of Mrs. Blackett (widow).

 **The Swallows:** John (15) , Susan (13 1/2), Titty (11 1/2) and Roger (10) Walker - Crew of the Swallow and friends of the Blackett sisters

 **The D's:** Dick (11 1/2) and Dot (13 1/2) Callum - Friends of both the Swallows and the Amazons and proud new owners of the _Scarab_

 **The Pevensies:** Peter (16), Susan (15), Edmund (14) and Lucy (13) ( I know my take on their ages is a little different) - Kings and Queens of Narnia as well as English school children. Actual ages according to a thirty year Golden Age, Peter (46), Susan (45), Edmund (44) and Lucy (43) (The air of Narnia is good for slow aging and youthful vigor)

 **Captain Flint:** Nancy and Peggy's "pirate" Uncle Jim, brother of Mrs. Blackett

 **G.A.** \- Mrs. Blackett and Captain Flint's fearsome and disapproving aunt.

 **Digory Kirke** (70) - The "Professor" and "friend" of G.A. (she once tried to get him to marry her with little success).

 **Polly Plummer** (69) - Friend of Digory (both she and Digory saw the creation of Narnia)

 **Eustace Clarence Scrubb** (12) - The Pevensies' Un-dragoned and reformed Cousin.

Shire Rose


	2. The Arrival and First Impressions

Nota Bene: I am not suggesting herein that the Pevensies routinely use their courtly language in England, but that it is a sort of private joke that they use in jest. And yes, it will mostly be Nancy's POV because I always identified with her and Titty the best, (I will not turn her into me though...I promise)

* * *

 **The Arrival and First Impressions**

* * *

The rest of that day was a haze of hurried consultations and frenzied plotting. It was readily apparent to everyone that if Miss Maria Turner was on the war-path looking for things to bluster at their mother about then the knowledge that she had invited to _more_ children beneath the inadequate care of Cook would not be well received.

So they plotted. Even if that wasn't enough the bothersome four were coming and Beckfoot had precisely three spare bedrooms, just enough for the G.A. and her charges.

"Stuck up London brats." said Nancy, "I suppose we ought to take that skull and crossbones down. Wouldn't want to scare them senseless."

"We live in London" pointed out Dot who had come in just in time for Nancy's rant.

Nancy turned a brilliant shade of red and stammered that she didn't think that _they_ were stuck up brats and that no one doubted that _they_ know one end of a ship from another.

It had decided after much fuss and bother that the D's would simply have to go into hiding and lay low until the Great Aunt blew over. There was a lovely little hut in the woods (it was actually in rather bad repair but no one minded) and as it seemed unlikely that anyone the G.A. thought of as charming would go clambering about in the woods they were assured that their secret would be kept.

"We can be Picts" said Dot.

"Picts?" asked Nancy.

"Ancient Britons," said Dot, "Prehistorics. Original inhabitants, living in caves and hiding from invaders…"

"Invaders alright" said Peggy.

"Picts you will be" said Nancy who was rather taken with the idea.

"Callums you were, D's thou art and Picts thou shalt be" chanted Dorthea ominously.

They slung hammocks which Dot thought very romantic (Nancy and Cook both confessed to not seeing anything romantic about it at all; their understandings of the word may have been slightly different though) and gathered wood for fires in the great clogged fireplace.

It was quite pretty by the time they finished. The skull and crossbones had been relocated to one dingy wall, there was fire blazing on the hearth and the kettle was boiling. There was a little stream nearby where they could wash dishes and keep the milk.

The D's settled in quite contently and the Amazons rushed off to don best frocks and sweet girlish manners for their unwanted guests.

-o-O-o-

First contact with the invaders (or persecutors as Nancy and Peggy were calling themselves the Martyrs) was not at all what they were expecting.

There were four as they had been warned, a tall boy a year or so older than Nancy with honest hazel eyes and golden hair, a girl older than Peggy with dark eyes and silky black hair, another boy older than Titty, fair-haired like his brother with grave grey eyes and a golden-haired girl younger still with laughing eyes and a brilliant smile.

They were gracious and charming thanking the Blacketts for inviting them (Nancy felt like that was adding insult to injury) and generally comporting themselves with the utmost politeness.

Both Nancy and Peggy could feel the gimlet eye of their aunt silently telling them to watch and learn. It did not help that Nancy felt ridiculously young compared to them, even the youngest who couldn't be _that_ much older than Roger acted like she was twenty at least.

Nancy and Peggy did _not_ like them at all.

So when Nancy heard soft voices from the girl's room she did not really feel guilty about creeping forward and listening, she was spying on the enemy, listening to their vile plots.

"Peter!" one of the girls was saying (Nancy thought it was the older one), "How can you think of such a thing?"

"Hello!" said Nancy to herself, "They are out of bed and the boys are over, they aren't nearly as obedient as they pretend to be."

"Really Su" said the younger boy, "They _are_ awful, I cannot wait until the Professor gets here. You can it in their eyes that they don't want us."

"Hear ye!" said Su laughing, "King Edmund has spoken let not any make objection."

 _King Edmund_ thought Nancy, forget about stuck up! They were downright arrogant and delusional.

"But why don't they want us?" said the youngest girl, "It's not like we're Governor Gumpus. We can't be that bad…"

"Oh yes you _can_ and _are_!" whispered Nancy to herself, but she did wonder who on earth Governor Gumpus was.

"Perhaps the matter will be made more clear in time" said Peter, "Let us to bed fair consorts."

Nancy was so confusticated by Peter's strange speech that she was nearly caught when the boys opened the door and had to duck behind convenient drapes.

"Aslan's blessings upon you dear brothers"

"And on you also fair sisters"

Nancy couldn't help snickering. Both boys started their hands going to their sides as they looked about for the owner of the noise.

Nancy froze.

The boys relaxed slowly and cautiously, their hands drifting away from their sides and to Nancy's great relief entered their room without further fuss.

"Who is Aslan?" was her first question as she nearly squashed Peggy in a flying leap onto her bed.

"Whomf ish whatf?" gasped Peggy.

"Aslan" said Nancy obligingly removing herself from her sister's head, "You won't believe what I just heard…"

-o-O-o-

Nancy was up early the next morning, partly because she wanted to check on the D's and partly because she felt like bursting if she didn't share her findings about the Pevensies with them.

She snuck out at first light, climbing down the rose trellis with considerable ease if not grace and nearly landed on top of someone below.

The person who was fair-haired and tall turned out to be the youngest Pevensie boy with a pad of paper and a pencil.

"Hello" said Nancy, looking him over suspiciously. It was true that she did not know much about boys besides John, Roger and Dick none of whom were exactly ordinary but she was pretty sure that sketching landscapes in gardens at the crack of dawn was not normal behavior for fourteen year-olds.

But then again the Pevensies were not exactly a normal family, however much she disliked them.

"Good morning" said the boy, "I did not know that the trellis was used for climbing or I would have sat elsewhere."

It sounded genuine but Nancy didn't see how it could be. What boy is alright with strange girls toppling them over at sunrise when they are busy? She would have probably hit anyone who tried it on her and she decided that Edmund was a bit of a pansy. What normal boy sketches landscapes to begin with?

She found the shack without much difficulty, Dick was out trying to locate a rare bird whose call he _thought_ he had heard but Dot was in, setting out bowls of cereal.

Then Dick came back rather disappointed because all he had seen were robins and Nancy quickly filled them in on the happenings at Beckfoot.

"They used this word _Aslan_ " said Nancy as she finished the tale of the strange bothersome four.

"Aslan?" asked Dot.

"I think so" said Nancy, "Do you know what it means?"

"I have heard it before, somewhere" said Dick "I just can't remember where…ugh" He took off his glasses and rubbed them fiercely.

"Aslan, Aslan…something in the Middle East…Turkey!"

"Oh yes!" crowed Dot, "That was it, Father was looking up Turkish words for something. I can't remember what it meant though."

"I think it was a code of some kind only they used it as a blessing…"

"Maybe they are heathens and Aslan is one of their ancient tribal deities!" suggested Dorthea.

"They are awfully British" said Nancy, "I doubt it."

"It is a mystery" continued Dot, her excitement unabated, "We must solve it."

"We should all keep an eye on them" said Nancy, "If you see them going anywhere follow them, but don't get caught. Peggy and I will manage things at Beckfoot."

"Should we?" asked Dick, "They are your guests and…"

"But Dick" pointed out his sister, "They could be dangerous! We have to. It will like when we helped catch the criminals who were unmooring boats in the Broads."

"No one had unmoored any boats here" said Dick, but he was beginning to catch Dot's enthusiasm.

"They might" said Dot, "Or they might be even worse! They could be in league with the G.A. in some dastardly scheme…"

* * *

Do tell me what you think.

Thanks to Rose and Psyche and Mary Chapel for their jolly reviews!

Shire Rose


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